This is part three to a story started in Heat and continued in Lost. It's been edited by an outside source, but some spelling and grammar mistakes may remain. Just a heads a warning.
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In a limp furry mass Lilli lay unaware on the bed as Keith stayed on his knees in shock. His mind fumbled at all the kitties he'd known and nothing like her came to mind, in either his world or the standard world.
Slowly he got to his feet thinking maybe she could have been a highbred. It was extremely rare, but not unheard of. It would explain why she had been abandoned, as most "sports" were very unwelcome.
Yet the closer he got to her the less she looked like any cats he'd seen. Sports usually looked somewhat like one of their parents; she almost looked like a Domestic cat, which was completely impossible. Domestic cats were bred into what they were, his kind were not. Myth was that they had evolved along with their wild animal cousins.
Slowly different characteristics came clear. She was a fuzzy reddish grey tabby, a compact ball sprinkled with faint spots. Her legs were loosely bared, her tail ringed, her forehead spotted - a mess of markings. Her face was slightly flattened set with low, red backed ears that framed white and black rimmed eyes. Black and white stripes ran from the corner of the eyes out, looking like fanciful makeup.
No, she wasn't a sport.
But what in the world could she be?
Quickly tucking himself back into his pants Keith stumbled to the door. Maybe Mathus had seen something like her.
Out of the room and into the kitchen where Mathus was reading and sipping at coffee, and Keith hadn't a clue what to say. In the end he just shook his head at the Alpha and asked him to come look.
When the Alpha just stared down at the kitty on the bed Keith felt his viewpoints shifting. Of course it was a completely unreasonable expectation to believe your Alpha would know everything, yet he knew he had. He knew Mathus was just a normal changer, not super human, not imbued with super powers, but he also knew that the Alphas often shared things with each other that they kept from those in their packs.
They stared down at the kitty before them, and Keith felt a moment of pity for her. She'd lived her life abandoned and unwanted, had been put through the wringer, and now he couldn't even find her a pack. As far as he was aware this was a completely unique situation. Was she doomed to be kicked out again, to struggle with her new life as best she could? Could she stay with them or would the other packs expect them to give her up? He'd promised her answers and found he could give her none.
"Holy. Fucking. Hell"
Keith really couldn't have said it any better.
The two confused leopards sat in the kitchen, thoughts to themselves. Mathus had said something about getting all the Alphas together, but had left his sentence unfinished. In the end neither of them had a clue what to do.
A wail suddenly tore through the house, pulling each man to his feet. It was a sound that should have sent shivers down their spines but actually tightened everything below their belts; it was the sound of a cat in heat. They glanced at each other and both changed into their other forms, whatever they were about to face wouldn't respond to human words and logic, not after it's very first change. They both knew that for the next few changes she'd mostly be lost to the animal nature running through her.
Mathus was a large, brightly-hided Leopard. Keith was softer and paler looking; not a snow leopard, but not standard. He knew something about sports, and while he was extremely powerful he wasn't likely to rise above the station he currently held, even though he was just a mix of leopards. Most packs would take down sports that tried to fight for the Alpha position.
They found her in the hallway, crouched low and obviously without thought, she was all cat brain, no human. It just hadn't occurred to him to shut the door; most cats changed back to human before waking if they fell asleep in cat form. She was so past the age that most cats changed for the first time that he didn't think she might stay trapped like sometimes happened in younger changes, or he hoped she wouldn't anyway.
Lilli clearly only had mating in mind and both males had to remind themselves that they were here for other reasons.
Although they hadn't talked about it, they started to "herd" her though the house toward the basement. When he'd taken on the Alpha position and the house, Mathus had had the basement converted into a safe room for cats in trouble. The walls were thickened and sound protected, the door bolted from the outside. Nearly everything easily destroyed or dangerous had been removed or locked away. The only illumination came from a caged light in the ceiling; the bed was a thick futon pad on the floor. Also included was a bathroom with a rather large tub. Mathus had wanted every one of his charges taken care of, no one left out in the cold.
Crying out her need, Lilli let herself be herded until the three of them stood in the safe room. She crouched before them, ready to be mounted but also ready to fight. Their instincts swallowing them up and they both slinked toward her, but when Mathus made to move for her Keith pushed his way between them, baring his teeth and growling. This kitty was
his
and he intended to fight for her.
For a long moment - filled with growls and hisses - the males sized each other up. Even though they were closely matched in power, Keith had never challenged his alpha. He knew doing so could lead to his death or expulsion, but at the moment he couldn't stop himself.
Finally Mathus stepped back and changed back into his human form. "I had no interest in keeping her Keith, you know what this was." With a shrug he backs out, shutting the heavy door behind himself.
